Bohol land wanted

I read this article about the steps to take when buying land which attempt to undermine the efforts of the scammers. We are intending to buy from a licensed Realtor, so hopefully that will eliminate the 'bloke down the pub' scenario.

This is the article text. Have a read of it John, and let me know your thoughts.

STEP 1
First and foremost, if the agent, or particularly called ‘real estate agent’ or the landowner comes to you and says they are selling land, the first thing you should ask for is the ‘Copy of the Title’.

This is what you will have to look for at the Register of Deeds. You should have a xerox copy of the title of the land, and you need to investigate if the property is ‘okay’. And by okay, the property should not be currently mortgaged, or is being claimed by others. It is important to make sure that the property that you are trying to buy has no existing problems. One common problem most buyers face is the land they bought has an identical title to the Register of Deeds’ copy. In short, the land is already entitled to someone else.

Before proceeding to the following steps, buyers should be vigilant and do their due research about the land that they are trying to buy.

STEP 2
Hire a Geodetic Engineer to do a “relocation survey” on the boundaries. Their task is to determine if the actual ground is adequate or if there are no structures or fences in the other lot that exceed beyond your actual prospective purchased property.

STEP 3
Once it is determined that there is no problem in terms of boundaries, you can then execute the next step which is called “deed of sale”. When you execute a “deed a sale” or “sales contract”, both of you, the seller and also the buyer, will sign and notarize it. It is very important that this is notarized by an attorney or any individual legally allowed to notarize.

STEP 4
Within 1 month from notarization, pay the first payment which is technically called “documentary stamps”. Important to remember is that these documentary stamps should be paid after the month of signing the mentioned notary.

STEP 5
After all that, the seller will also pay what is called the ‘capital gain tax’. Because the seller is the one who earned by selling the property, he/she should pay the BIR the said tax.

Once the capital gain tax is successfully paid, BIR will then issue the “Certificate of Authority to Register”. A certification that says in the Register of Deeds that all taxes have been paid and you can officially transfer the name of the title to the buyer.

STEP 6
As long as you have seen the Certificate of Authority to Register physically, you can then bring it to the Register of Deeds. This is the last stage of buying land. The Register of Deeds will then say, the final payment, including the Transfer Fees. Once that’s paid, the Register of Deeds will take everything from there.

The Owner’s Copy of the title will be surrendered, and you will have to wait it will be turned over to you. It is advised to follow-up the Register of Deeds from time to time as this process might take some time.

This is going to end up being our guide to see if the people that we appoint and the realtor are sticking to the script, Having lived in Spain, I'm aware of the scam of under declaration. Our realtor has already suggested that the declaration for Capital Gains Tax be submitted at 500,000 pesos, thereby halving the CGT - but as good as that sounds at first glance, it just passes the unpaid value onto me, because should we decide to sell in the future, either we would continue to under-declare, or we would pay the missing portion.

That might have set the alarm bells off, but to be fair, it's possibly so endemic that it's no longer even considered corrupt - kind of like paying cash on a job to avoid the VAT in the UK has become the norm.

We will, nonetheless be using our own agent and attorney to make sure that our interests are best served. We have a friend of a friend that viewed the land for us, and they (as is the way in the Philippines) have a family member in the Law Business.

It is my thought at the moment that until all these processes are completed, we pay nothing, because should it not be possible to close the deal through any failure on the part of the seller, we should not be out of pocket. The Deed of Sale will cost around 10k-15k pesos, and the survey 14k-20k. I would imagine that this would be added, together with the 5k pesos for the new title document, to our final account.

In total, somewhere in the region of 115k on a land price of 1m pesos. As the land was originally 1.05m, we end up paying pretty much the same, even if we pick up the tab for the CGT (70k) at full value.

So 1,099,000 to 1,110,000 for 3000 m2, all fully titled and in the name of my asawa.

Early days yet though, so let's see if it plays out in a straightforward manner

Things have moved on apace since I last updated. We are about to complete the purchase of 3500m2 or so of land near to Sikatuna.

We've had the geodetic survey done and everything agrees with the deeds, so we are progressing. A deed of sale has been drawn up and the only obstacle is the payment of the BIR demands - approximately 70,000 pesos.

We have appointed a lawyer to the job, as I don't think it wise to rely on the realtor who is also acting for the seller. We also have a family friend overseeing the whole thing to hopefully avoid any shenanigans.

Once it's ours, we need to employ the services of a contractor. The idea is to construct half a dozen A-frame steel-frame cabins on a reinforced concrete pad, covered with galvanised sheet steel roofing, and then maybe nipa over that, to give it a more rustic look. We will also build a small resto/bar, a sari sari store and of course, our house.

With the exception of the sari-sari store, I don't want to see a hollow block on the site. My intention is to use a steel frame covered with Hardie boards and planks etc, and cladding the inside with insulated gyprock to external walls, and ordinary gyprock to others.

I think the result will be as typhoon-proof as possible, earthquake-proof as possible, fire-proof as possible and termite-proof as possible.

A plague of frogs though, and we're probably doomed.

Any input, comments, suggestions and criticisms are always welcome, may be debated, accepted or ignored accordingly, but remain welcome nonetheless.

Wow... congrats!

Sounds just like a job for @HONEST DAVE

Yep just up his street .

Having built a relatively bespoke house there in PH had its fair share of problems for me, fortunately I was there to oversee everything, it was not long before I discovered Pinoys do not know that very much about the principle of building with integrity, the extent of their knowledge is very basic they only know how to stack CHB's to form walls and they are quite prepared to use a mortar that has gone off (cured) adding extra water to make it workable. I think it fair to say Pinoy construction workers are Cupid Stunts, they have to be supervised and managed 100% of the time. My neighbour a Danish guy was building at the same time as myself, he did not keep his eye on the ball and ended up with a wreck of a house, he had his 19th nervous breakdown, his marriage broke up and the house has lain empty for 18 months.

To have a house built there in PH requires the owner to have skills of the trade and even more so with a bespoke project, in my own case although not a tradesman, I know my way around most of the trades and have had a go at them all.

When I supplied my basic plan to the Architect soon he was on the phone to me asking what I was meaning by a Monolithic slab, he did not have the sense to google the term? this type of slab can be expensive with the requirement to have lots of steel rebar in it although on a small footprint it may not be quite so pricey?

In my opinion an A frame roof will have a lot of wind resistance like a sail on a tall ship and perhaps not best suited to the Philippines? the best of all roof types to withstand high winds is a hipped roof at a 30 degree pitch, seemingly a roof with metal trusses that has a little flex to it is good.

I built my house using 4x2inch GI steel channel of 1.2mm thickness, clad with Hardie outside and Gyprock inside, I now regret doing this and wish I had used the Hardie both sides, I filled the cavity with Rice Hulls, I would be surprised if a Gyprock with insulation on one side would be available there and if it is it will be very expensive, there is such a low demand for insulation products there, when they are available they are very expensive, when you do find some you must buy it there and then as it will be out of stock for months after, there is a Gyprock for tiling to and this is coloured green but they had none when I needed it so I used the Hardie instead on walls that were to be tiled. My roof is clad with Imac uPVC roofing sheets this provides a cool roof with no insulation required.

CHB is something I would never use and especially not for a Septic tank they must be concrete or high grade plastic, I'm guessing you want the store done in CHB for security? my Hardie clad house is very resistant to damage with the consolidated rice hulls in the cavity no one could kick through this, then there is the potential to make a Rice Hull mortar fill the cavity and have it bomb proof.

Natural disasters DO NOT kill people, generally it is falling masonry from poorly constructed CHB houses that will cause this, I would never build there on flat land much preferring a gentle slope well above sea level that has no risk of flooding, having said all of the above I did make more than my fair share of mistakes and had to spend a lot more money than I originally thought I would.

Thanks for joining in with the conversation Dave. Indeed, it is because of your other thread that I went along the path of using a steel frame for the house, and using Hardie Board and not CHB for the walls. The monolithic slab is because I don't trust these blocks to hold up the foundation slab and the house. Since I read your thread, Egay hit northern Luzon. The Armstrong Family is a YouTube channel that I follow as they build their house in Vigan.

Take a look at the CHB after a typhoon. (this is not their house by the way, but neighboring properties)



These things have all the structural integrity of Weetabix in hot milk. They've melted!

And I agree, from what I've seen. The average Pinoy construction worker is trained on-site, on-the-job, picking up all of the ill-advised short cuts and bad practices along the way.

It's difficult, being in the UK, but I plan to try to schedule the build so that I can be there for extended periods while my workers complete certain stages of the build, both for the purposes of security and for supervision. My idea is that I get the foundation works completed for the entire site, get the septic tanks (plastic) installed, and the drainage organised, together with a large conduit for all of the services. If that can be achieved in one month, I'll be pleased, but at this stage, a second visit to complete it wouldn't be too much of a risk.

The second phase would be to have the steel frame kit for the house delivered to the plot so that it can be erected over the course of a week or so, followed by the Hardie Board. I've found a supplier of insulation products in Manila and I would order through them.

This would need to be completed within the month so that we would end up with a sealed building, even if the window/door openings were just boarded. (There would be a perimeter fence and some form of security personnel and equipment, but there are always limits to the effectiveness of this of course. Perhaps a bad-tempered Caribao instead?)

I'm hoping that this Cupid Stunt level of professionalism of builders is a provincial thing, and that all those skyscrapers in Makati aren't about to dissolve. I would rather bring in a team of knowledgeable steel fixers from Manila or Cebu for a fortnight than leave it to a gang of untrained half-arsed builders from the Boondocks. Same with the Hardie Boards. I'd rather some professional fitters were employed to fit the stuff, and make sure the insulation actually does go into the wall cavity than leave it to a local, who can't be bothered with the itchiness of it all, and throws it in the river instead. I'm not sure that there is much of a saving to be made by having the local lads balls everything up that they touch. You just end up paying twice as much to have it put right.

I've just been watching another chap who is building his house in the PI, and it's a bloody mess to say the least. The window fitter finally showed up, and fitted a four-piece sliding door. If you close the two outer pieces, the two central pieces don't meet in the middle. If you lock those, one of the outer pieces doesn't meet the frame. How this can be put right is beyond me, but I bet it involves mastic!

I don't want to start off with such cynicism, but in this case, I wonder if it isn't more a case of being realistic. On the whole, it seems that a huge majority of your average Filipino builder is unskilled, and to a great extent, can't see the reason for their ability and skill base to improve.

I'll probably end up being shot and thrown in the river. But I might survive after all, by making a raft from all the discarded cavity insulation!

Can't see any re-bar in the wall apart from the bit at the base of the wall, not a very clear picture to make assumptions but looks like a complete novice on a bad day made that wall.

I had my house built with the CHB OVER 20 years, I may have been lucky with the foreman and engineer but I did look at the other buildings they built.
Good idea to get recommendations.
BTW no problems with my walls and 3 story house built with CHB. and after 6.9 earth quake hit it that torn up roads in Dumaguete. And the Super typhoon Odett that hit us in 2021. Having said that Dave's hardi-flex house seems a great idea and would have made mine the same way.
Typhoon Rai in the Philippines - Activations

TBF Jim, think there is a little bit of 9mm on the horizontal...

I did have some 250m2 monstrosity, designed by my own fair hand that looked more like the kind of place that would be busy on the weekend with young couples on the hunt for ceramic tiles. I had employed the services of the same Indonesian architect to knock up some proper drawings of the place, but quickly put a stop to that when I realised that I'd put windows on only one elevation. It looked a little Brutalist.

So I popped on to Etsy - primarily because Scottish Dave had put the frighteners on me that an A-frame house would have its roof blown off by the first typhoon to put it to the test. But then I remembered that there are many AirBnB A-frames out there all across the Phils, and even perched on a ridge, completely exposed to the wind on the east side of Luzon, and I thought that my plan, for them to be tucked down and half built into a hillside would be worth the risk. And if they're built strongly enough - with a steel frame and GI roofing, perhaps they'll survive unless we took a direct hit along the lines of Odette.

But my half-price tile warehouse had to go. Not only was it the size of Toad Hall, but it hadn't the appeal that I'd hoped. And for thirty quid, I've got a full set of plans (minus HVAC, Electrical and plumbing) for a much more modest 3-bed bunglaow that might not bankrupt me along the way. It will be adapted to a steel frame, and it will be covered with Hardie Board. I might yet put Hardie board on the inside as its pretty tough stuff as long as it's kept dry.

One other thing you might want to think about @CampelloChris are the rivers and the sources to the river "near" your land.

Probably doesn't happen so much in Europe but we had a typhoon, couple of years back, that strangely dried up the main river here... i.e. the one carrying the majority of water from the high ground ("mountain" as my wife calls it) down and out to the sea. Bloody odd because when we went to look at the aftermath, after the typhoon as we normally do, there was the large bridge and just a pool of muddy water under it...

Later we discovered, one of the landslides (usually but not always caused by illegal loggers) had changed the river's path and sources upstream: anything that was in the way lower down stream had simply been washed away... yeeks!

The force of a large amount of moving water, filled with large stones and wood and whatever else it picks up during the storm, is just too much for most manmade structures...

BTW. I watched a few of the Armstrong videos - pretty good, unfortunately give my wife ideas beyond my pocket, but he obviously knows what he's doing - The second house he built, not the bungalow, he used some kind of block (looked good) - not sure what it's called so that maybe another option ...

Also maybe a good idea to get your electricity/wifi/CCTV set up asap, take a good look at what's going on before you do too much and easier to monitor things later.

Problem is, if you're not going to be there you'll need back up power to cover the brown outs (they'll pinch your stuff once they realise it doesn't work in the power out) etc. so might be a bit expensive but worth it in the long run.

I'm not so sure Armstrong knows as much as you think he does? like so many US guys he suffers from NPD, much like the rest of these US Vloggers, they can all talk the hind legs off a Donkey, they really do love to talk, they add in a bit of religious connotation here and there and they are a big hit with the Filipinos.

Here are a few faults I picked up on; Adding 10% extra water to a concrete mix will reduce its overall strength by 20% and his mixes contained too much water, when placing (not pouring) concrete for a slab a vibrating wand should be used, he does not do this and yet it is a prime requirement to consolidate it for it to reach its highest strength potential, he uses Type 1 Red Bag which is 95% pure Portland, better that he uses type 1P Green Bag which is only 80% Portland and 20% Ash and P20 per bag less in cost, this gives a longer time to work with it, does not reach such a high setting temp and this helps reduce thermal cracking, after 28 days it has the same strength value as the pure Portland.

Something that is not common knowledge there is; type 1 is high in Hydrocarbons and this can create a reaction in Alkaline soils and should never be used in Septic's for this very reason, however in the blended 1P this added ash neutralises these HC's and makes it safe for uses in a waste Tank, in US and UK Blended Cement is the most commonly used type. in PH it is the other way around.

Another thing I notice not just on Armstrong's site but on all that I have ever seen there in PH, to measure the sand and aggregates they use old Cement bags, they even sell them there for use on new sites starting off.

When cement it filled in the bags at the makers either it is self consolidating or they vibrate to pack it in? when I was tiling I needed a fair amount of sifted sand and this was readily available from an abandoned building site next door to me, (the Danish guy who was building there gave up on it, (he went Aff his Fecking Heid), so I used a Davies Sun and Rain 4ltr empty White paint tin, I was able to fill this 9 times from a bag of cement, however on trying this on three different bags of sifted sand I had three different results 1@6.5, 1@6.9 and 1 at just over 7, this being the bag least shredded at the top, just maybe if I had done a few more it would be possible to get around 7.5 at best, perhaps there could be a difference if the bags were filled at the start of the day when the workers are fresh or the end of the day when they are tired or the bags were just roughly ripped open? This you will see on every site there in PH even on the very large ones building multiple homes or high rises. That's the way we do things here, the most common phrase heard on any Pinoy site, especially when they are questioned, but they will not be able to give a good reason for the way they do things.

There is another Guy who may have an interest to some, Texasfilipno (James Hightower) building an all concrete house on Panay Island, this guy really is good, however the he applies the same faults in his concrete work.

To be honest I could not do what they do, put me in front of a Video Cam and even though I know my onions on certain subjects I would just be a gibbering idiot, generally the Scottish do not make great actors and not good at public speaking, with the exception of 007 of course.

This stems from the education system here we are never encouraged to speak up in class actually it is quite the reverse of this, when my Teacher who was ever so polite prim and proper would catch me talking, she would then revert to the Scottish vernacular and say; Wee Davy! if ye wid keep yer mooth shut, naebody wid ken yer jist stupid! then often she would follow up with; empty barrels make the most noise.

Just about any dumb US guy can be put in front of a Camera to sound very professional and talk for long periods of time saying nothing.

Hardie Board as you call it quite resilient to water, I found a piece of 3mm that had been lying getting wet on a concrete slab for around 18 months I also found the same stuff that had been under cover for this same period, the wet bit was dried out and to my surprise it was still quite good after all this time, on the piece that had been dry stored, I laid a wet rag eventually after more than 30mins the dampness passed through to the other side, this was not the Hardie brand but a cheaper alternative to it. in my opinion it is best to use the 9mm for both sides of the house wall, or 12mm outside and 4.5mm inside, one problem with the 12 is that it is heavy even for 2 men to carry, leaving a gap of around 2.5 between the sheets allows you to get that gap Well filled with concrete epoxy this is essential, when the sheets are cut and the edge not perfect at any place two sheets touch grind out a deep V, you must open out a crack before insertion. I was forced to use some of the cheaper Cement Boards and found no difference to the main brand, only it was P400 cheaper for a sheet of the 12mm.

Either it was yourself or another that mentioned the high rise building in Makati have stood the test of time and the elements, I would bet my boots these were not built by a Filipino contractor with full control of the job, more likely it would have been done by the Chinese using Chinese Construction Engineers overseeing the complete job.

Not so long ago a friend bought a P12mill waterfront Condo in Cebu, the last big storm at the end of 2021 blew out the windows and caused some structural damage to it and he was forced to move out. If I had that kind of money to invest there I would either buy some small lots or one big Lot to be sub-divided into smaller lots and perhaps build some small Bungalows as Holiday lets with the potential to be sold as complete house and lots at a later date, none with a price tag of over P5mill.

There is a high degree of chance that after a year or two into your project and if I am still around? (being a miserable old coffin dodger near to 71yrs) you may turn to me and say, well you told me so?

This reminds me of the time when my children were in their late teens well past puberty and turning adult and I would be giving them a telling off, of course they were not happy at this, in their eyes they were no longer children, I would finish off by saying you may not agree with what I am saying right now, but I promise in around 10yrs time and you look back on this likely your will agree then.

The river nearest to the land is the Loboc River. Initially, it was around the river that we intended to be, but having seen what happened after Odette, where the mud came as high as the upstairs windows of nearby properties, and completely filled the downstairs of some, we decided that we needed to be a bit higher up.

The land we are buying is on a hillside - it's Bohol after all. But the crest of the hillside is only a few metres up from the border of our land in both respects - distance and elevation. There isn't much of anything up there - maybe a few trees and patches of scrub. At the bottom of our land is a 10m Barangay road, that extends for the 100m of the frontage.

As long as our entire hillside doesn't end up on someone else's, (and there's no reason to think that it might as it has never moved so far), I think we'll be ok. Especially once I've had it cut away and reinforced with retaining walls (gabions mainly)

I'm happy to employ contractors from far and wide, or next door but one if they are prepared to learn how to do a job properly, or are capable already. But people that have worked in Makati and the like will have had far more exposure to the concept of doing a job correctly, or at least I like to think so.

I watched the Armstrong fellah and was very impressed with his foundations, but less with his other concrete work. He did vibrate the footings, but as you said, that was about the limit of it. You could see the Bodgit attitude coming through from the Pinoys when they were using stones and pebbles as spacers rather than a proprietary spacer that cost a few pennies. By the time they've trodden and tripped their way through the slab, none of the mesh would still be in the centre of the slab. I also watched an episode where Richard's legs were covered in concrete by the end, which must have been a bit burny by the end of the day.

I don't claim to be an expert in concrete, and I'm certainly prepared to take advice. It's very kind of you and the other members on here to discuss and debate and make your suggestions. I wouldn't be so arrogant to assume that my YouTube learning would come anywhere close, and I hope that my future will not be filled with regret at the methods I have adopted.

To be fair I may have been a little harsh with my opinion of Armstrong likely somewhat coloured as I have a low opinion of most US guys especially these Vloggers, do not take that as me being racially prejudiced, as a nation we the Scottish are the least prejudiced of all!!! as we dislike everyone, in fact we do not even like other Scotsmen all that much.

I think you are doing the right thing watching as many You tube Videos as you can and with the likes of Armstrong's ones his are good to serve as a bad example, only joking, I did learn from him, his polished concrete floors are just great, when I think back the cost of tiles and adhesives plus the vastly extended time to have them laid (Pinoys are so slow at everything they do) likely if I could have done away with all that with the money saved I could have bought the Helicopter polishing machine, then sold it on when the job was done.

Building on a hillside is a sensible approach there in PH as long as it is not too steep having the possibility to landslide? there may be a cheaper option to Gabions, I seem to think they are expensive? building a Rip Rap (stone) wall, instead of filling Gabions with them you build the stones into a wall sat on a wide footing, the wall starts off wide and tapers as the height increases, with each layer of boulders you lay down a couple of pieces of rebar, difficult to do it upright unless you provide concrete pillars at intervals or have it double wide with concrete in the centre, this can also be pleasing to the eye, gabions are unsightly.
Another option would be to have a concrete wall, in this instance the foundation slab extends a metre or more into the retained soil, so the wall and foundation form an 'L' shape from an end view with the retaining soil pinning down the short leg of the L.

Colour blindness seems to be an inherent problem to Filipinos and most houses I have been in there in PH display such bad taste in choice of Tiles and colour schemes Black and Grey is the popular choice, one of the large hardware stores in DGTE only have these colours, the Bathrooms in Armstrong's build were both ugly with the wrong choice of Tiles typical of Filipinos, his Kitchen was not too bad apart from the ugly black Cooker, to place the sink against the wall and not having a window there to look out of is just Fecking nuts, who would think to do such a thing, he cannot be wired up right? I have been in many houses there and most of them having swept head doors to the Kitchen cabinets usually with dark Brown stain on them, then this is topped off with a Black granite worktop with the 20mm edge, this looks terrible to me, then they will have wall cabinets set to high where the Pinays cannot even reach the bottom shelf? even here in UK there is now a tendency not to have wall cabinets provided the Kitchen is large enough. I do not have them in the house I built there in PH.

I did make the simplest rebars chairs, using cheap 2inch sanitary pipe, I drilled a half inch hole every 3inch, then using a chop saw I cut the pipe at the centre of each hole, they were very stable when holding the bars but knowing they would be getting blasted with ready mix we filled each one with a little mortar, well less than an hour for me to make 100 of them, better to make your own then you get the exact size you want.

This is the lot. I plotted the points and they tally with the survey done last year. The survey we had done also tallies.



He rabbits on about some of it being across the road, but this doesn't tie in with the survey



I'm not sure yet how much excavation work will be required on the project. It may be that we dig somewhere, and use it to fill/level elsewhere. It may be that we dig and construct a combined foundation and retaining wall for stability. There is no evidence of landslip on the site as we have had more videos sent to us where the videographer was less afraid of snakes than this guy was lol. They walked up to the top for us and gave us a much better idea of what we were buying.

I thought that by digging the cabins into the hillside, I would lessen the effect of the slope, which to be fair, isn't actually that steep, although from the road it looks formidable. I think it rises 20m from the road to the top of the lot, which is around 50m away from the road.

The top of the lot is pretty much the crest of the hillside, so we aren't likely to suffer neighboring land suddenly becoming ours.

I was thinking of going down the carved concrete route, where the retaining walls are made to look like stacked rocks, but are in fact reinforced concrete, and with the level surfaces being patterned with silicone molds. I'd like to see some of this that has been carried out by whomever I choose to build on site as I imagine it to be one of those things that can look fantastic when done well, and an utter eyesore when not.

Here's an example of what the walls could look like. It's not ideal, but it's cost-effective and looks better than a blank concrete wall



Richard Armstrong seems to have had a go at doing something similar, down the side of his house, but I think he's been trying to do it on the cheap with some floppy silicone molds. It doesn't seem to have survived the edit, so I suspect it ended up looking....suspect.

We hope to finalise in the next week or so on the land. Everything is prepared as far as we know, and we are now introducing a third, third party to make sure we don't get tripped up by all this. We didn't leave it to this Realtor to do everything as he may have had a conflict of interest. We appointed a law firm, but also had a friend of a friend take a look at the land and 'how things felt'. Now that some hard cash is involved, we have appointed a family member to oversee. Sometimes this can be as risky as anything else from what I've heard, but not while his mother is still alive - she loves my wife almost as much as I do. Melody was her carer for around 6 years before we met, so woe betide her son if he tried anything foolish.

We fly to Bohol in the first week of March, and I'm hoping to meet with a contractor or two, to discuss how we plan to programme the build. Meanwhile, we need to get the place fenced off all round, and that won't be cheap.

My plan is then to spend a month there in Spring 2025, and have the exco/concreting septic and utilities work done. Then it will probably be another year before we build the house, and the aim will be to deliver a sealed building - light steel frame and Hardie board, (with windows and doors to arrive at a later date), so openings covered in ply/osb for the time being. Nothing inside would be fitted, so hopefully nobody will feel the need to steal from us.

The house would be finished in 2027 to a great extent, and the focus would switch to the AirBnB cabins - to get them to the sealed unit stage.

The ultimate aim is to not leave anything unaffixed as much as possible until we can be there full time. We can go on our shopping spree once there, but as that will involve buying everything multiplied by eight, it will have to be Melody who negotiates the cost, to avoid the foreigner tax.

I will await her return, San Mig Light in hand, and fan blowing as I sit in my rocking chair.

Are you and your wife not going to take a look yourselves before you jump in?

I put that link there to Google earth... which gives another view of your site... and maybe your neighbours.

Quod ali cibus est aliis fuat acre venenum and all that.

Definitely - not somewhere my wife would fancy!

John I agree with you 100%, I never picked up that there was that possibility that the land had not been viewed by himself? I think this is so important to do this even if it involves the flight cost and the inconvenience of it to take a short trip over before making this commitment to buy. This is just crazy nuts to me to buy unseen? Of course you and I have the benefit of living there for a longer term and fully understand if there is the slightest chance for anything to go wrong over there it most certainly will.

If there is any one thing a Foreigner should know and understand, Filipinos in the main are nice people especially the working classes, they were all born with a brain just ready to be educated just the same as everyone else in this world. However the main stream education system that exists there has Fecking Wrecked their intelligence, a Schoolteacher there would not make a good dinner Lady in a UK school. Btw that camping trip you had not so long ago is testimony to that, run and Fecked up by the School, they could not run a p!ss up in a brewery.

I would prefer a magnificent penthouse

It simply isn't feasible to go to Bohol and see the land, and get any more of an idea from the trip that we don't already have. So we will go with our gut feeling on this one

There are a few risks with buying it sight unseen, but there are so many facilities available these days. We have had people walking on the land. We've done the Google Earth and Google Map search.

For what we have planned, I think it's going to be ideal. We did look at some land closer to the Loboc river, but then during investigation figured that it must have flooded after the last big typhoon. This is 125-145m above sea level, so I don't think there's much chance of that. .

I just need a good contractor with a few contacts to take some of the soil off our hands as we excavate, and later, to build what we want in the manner that we can do it.